Blog Tour, Guest Post, Review, & Giveaway for Still Knife Painting by Cheryl Hollon

I’m delighted to be a guest at Books a Plenty. Thank you, Jessica, for hosting me on your site with the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour.

How has your writing changed during the COVID-19 pandemic?

At the beginning of the year, I was excited to be writing the third book in the Paint & Shine Mystery Series, but also pretty alarmed at the limited time for turning in the manuscript to my publisher. I’ve been writing about one and a half to two books a year since I got my first contract late in 2013.

I had turned in a synopsis to my publisher so I knew the basic events. Then I fleshed that out into a detailed chapter-by-chapter outline. In that same spreadsheet, I set my daily word targets. My first day of writing garnered just over three thousand words. Happy days.

My perfect writing spot is just three blocks from my apartment in downtown St. Petersburg. It’s a co-working space with an open floor plan. My spot is on the fifth floor. It’s the quiet floor. Way more quiet than a library. Absolutely productivity heaven for me. It was not unusual for me to bang out more then two thousand words in a single morning.

Everything was going to plan and I was about racing along at about halfway through the first draft. Then came Friday, March 13^th when the Governor of Florida issued a stay at home order. The purpose was to flatten the curve of COVID-19 and slow the pandemic.

It's a trivial thing in the broader scope of what’s going on, but my progress slipped to almost nothing. I was pleased to get 250 words into the manuscript. I actually had to ask for a deadline extension for the first time. How mortifying for a goal-driven author.

Things looked pretty dark until we started to think of ways to get me the quiet I need for new words. My oldest son owns a little rental house that he uses for storage and business enterprise experiments that can’t be carried in his home garage. It has an enclosed front porch that looks out onto the residential street. It’s air conditioned, has a full kitchen and bathroom. But the most important quality is that it is absolutely silent. I asked my son if I could use the space for writing and he said, “Of course.”

Oh frabjous day! We spent two days clearing out the company promotional items inventory and marine science equipment. After that we moved in a plain sturdy desk and I brought a hot pot for making coffee. Creating new words takes lots of coffee.

What a shining success. I’ve been slamming the word count since and by the time you read this, I will have turned in my manuscript. On time and especially in good spirits.

About Still Life Painting

Still Knife Painting (A Paint & Shine Mystery)  
Cozy Mystery 1st in Series  
Publisher: Kensington (June 30, 2020)
 Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
ISBN-10: 1496725247
 ISBN-13: 978-1496725240
Digital ASIN: B07W8VL149
 

Miranda Trent has set up a sweet life in a scenic corner of Appalachia—until she stumbles across the trail of a killer . . .

 

After inheriting her uncle’s Red River Gorge homestead in Eastern Kentucky—smack dab in the middle of the Daniel Boone National Forest—Miranda comes up with a perfect business plan for summer tourists: pairing outdoor painting classes with sips of local moonshine, followed by a mouthwatering sampler of the best in southern cooking.

 

To Miranda’s delight, Paint & Shine is a total success—until someone kills the cook. As the town’s outsider, suspicion naturally falls on Miranda. Murdering the best biscuit baker of Red River Gorge is a high crime in these parts. Miranda will have to prove her innocence before she’s moved from farmhouse to jail cell faster than she can say “white lightning” . . .

 REVIEW

*I won a free kindle copy of this book from a Goodreads giveaway.

What a great start to a new series by one of my favorite cozy authors! Set in a scenic area of Kentucky we meet Miranda just after she inherits her Uncle's old farmhouse with the stipulation that she starts a distillery in the barn within a very short time. To get the money she starts a Paint & Shine business which involves a hike to a local scenic spot which the group will paint followed by a lunch paired with moonshine by a local distillery. This sounds like a fun deal I must say even if I cannot paint to save my life. Her first trip starts a little rough before things start to go a little smoother. Then the shine guy is late pushing the meal a little so when he arrives she quickly announced the meal. A scream from the kitchen changes everything as the cook was stabbed with her own knife. The local Sheriff is not equipped to investigate so Lexington police are called in but the two law enforcement agencies have a long standing feud. The cops also have a questionable history so Miranda feels compelled to investigate to save her livelihood. This leads to an interesting investigation I must say making it quite captivating. A must read for cozy fans. I totally loved it so I give it 5/5 stars.

About Cheryl Hollon

Cheryl Hollon now writes full-time after she left an engineering career of designing and building military flight simulators in amazing countries such as England, Wales, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, and India. Fulfilling the dream of a lifetime, she combines her love of writing with a passion for creating glass art. In the small glass studio behind her house in St. Petersburg, Florida, Cheryl and her husband design, create, and produce fused glass, stained glass, and painted glass artworks. Visit her online at http://cherylhollon.com, on Facebook or on Twitter @CherylHollon.

Purchase Links: 

Amazon B&N Kobo 

 a Rafflecopter giveaway  

TOUR PARTICIPANTS  

June 29 – Brooke Blogs – CHARACTER GUEST POST  
June 29 – Mystery Thrillers and Romantic Suspense Reviews – SPOTLIGHT  
June 30 - The Pulp and Mystery Shelf – GUEST POST  
June 30 - The Book Decoder – REVIEW  
July 1 – Elizabeth McKenna - Author – SPOTLIGHT  
July 1 – I'm All About Books – SPOTLIGHT  
July 1 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW  
July 2 – Baroness' Book Trove – REVIEW  
July 2 – Hearts & Scribbles – SPOTLIGHT  
July 2 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT  
July 3 – Reading, Writing & Stitch-Metic – SPOTLIGHT  
July 3 – The Avid Reader – REVIEW  
July 4 – OFF  
July 5 – Cozy Up with Kathy – AUTHOR INTERVIEW  
July 5 – Christy's Cozy Corners – REVIEW, CHARACTER INTERVIEW  
July 6 – Diary of a Book Fiend – REVIEW  
July 6 – Literary Gold – CHARACTER GUEST POST  
July 7 – Brianne's Book Reviews - REVIEW  
July 7 – Jane Reads – GUEST POST  
July 8 – Thoughts in Progress – CHARACTER GUEST POST  
July 8 – StoreyBook Reviews – REVIEW  
July 9 – Celticlady's Reviews – SPOTLIGHT  
July 9 – Socrates Book Reviews – REVIEW  
July 10 – MJB Reviewers – REVIEW  
July 10 – Ascroft, eh? – AUTHOR INTERVIEW  
July 11 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW  
July 11 – Here's How It Happened – GUEST POST  
July 12 – Moonlight Rendezvous – REVIEW, GUEST POST 
July 12 – A Wytch's Book Review Blog – REVIEW, CHARACTER INTERVIEW  
July 13 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews – REVIEW, GUEST POST  
July 13 – La libreria di Beppe - SPOTLIGHT    

   

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